The government has to pay 75 per cent of the cost of production of the poultry, which are culled after the detection of bird flu in farms, to owners as compensation.

During the last outbreak of the flu, some of the farm owners had to cull their birds, many of them in hundreds, in collaboration with the government authorities to prevent the spread of avian flu. But the government was unable to pay them the compensation amount on time.

“Yes, there was a bit of delay in disbursement of compensation money last time. That’s why some of the poultry farms, where bird flu was detected on May 23, had created some problems, but we have settled everything with them now,” Dr Rafiqul Hassan Usmani, official spokesman of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) on Bird Flu told Dawn.

Dr Usmani said the government had to pay the first instalment of compensation money to the affected farmers within two weeks and remaining within two months. But, last time the process took a bit longer due to delay in the disbursement of funds. That’s why, some farmers had created problems on May 23. However, now everything was well under control.

Source: DAWN